MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” panel criticized Vice President JD Vance’s response to a young woman at a town hall who said she couldn’t afford rent, groceries, student loans or gas, and The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire said moments like it have led people in Trump’s White House to question Vance as a 2028 pick.
Joe Scarborough said the woman “pours her heart out” to the vice president, who responded by making a joke about a senator. Scarborough said Vance then blamed illegal immigrants for the housing crisis, which he said “is just not going to sail,” and called Vance “ill-equipped in so many ways for that position.”
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said the administration is “long on grift greed, but very short on empathy.”
She disputed Vance’s substance, saying she asked how many immigrants are buying homes at the interest rates that average new homes at $415,000, and that Vance’s answer about ICE raids slowing construction was off base.
Lemire said moments like that are ones “people in the Trump White House have flagged and said, like, maybe this isn’t our guy in ‘28.” He said Trump has also mused about the size of Vance’s rally crowds, and that voters say Republicans “don’t seem to care that we’re suffering.” Republicans he spoke with for a recent piece said broken promises on bringing down prices keep coming up.
Lemire added that Vance was asked whether he’d promise not to be in any forever war, and dismissed the idea about Iran, though Lemire said he and others have reported a high likelihood of more U.S. strikes in the coming days or weeks.